3 - Effects of produced water to Atlantic cod: Mechanistic studies and biomarker development with proteomics based methods.

Effects of contaminants on an organism start at the molecular level, and are transferred to higher levels of biological organization if the exposure is persistent and toxicological repair is overwhelmed. Long-term effects of produced water on the reproduc tion of Atlantic cod can therefore be studied at the molecular level. This project aims at utilising proteomic based techniques to study and identify possible changes in protein expression due to such exposure. We believe that this approach may detect pos sible changes with an unbiased eye. We want to further develop proteomics based technology, i.e. 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) combined with different mass spectrometry techniques and database search to identify mechanisms involved due to expos ure of Atlantic cod to produced water from oil and gas production. An important aim is to develop new biomarkers to be used in future biomonitoring programmes. This will be applied to laboratory experiments and field samplings. As one of the concerns of t hese discharges are endocrine disruptive effects from alkylated phenols, we will focus on changes in plasma, but also study other organs like gonads and liver in addition to whole larvae extracts.